Search This Blog

Pages

Et al....

Mud Thai

Ever
have those moments where you a bit of information flashes by your
cognitive senses and disappears never to flash back again? and yet it
leaves such a deep impression that you find yourself searching for it
whenever the opportunity arises?
This idea stems from a clip on mixology I remember watching on Indian
TV by India's foremost female mixologist Shatbi Basu. While the details
of the clip are fuzzy, what remains crystal clear are the ingredients
she used, fennel seeds, ginger &amp; fresh Sugarcane juice, While
the last ingredient is not really easy to obtain (unless you're in the
vicinity of Union square in New York City where there is a juice bar
that crushes this fresh while you wait), The canned variety makes for a
wonderful substitute.

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 thick slice lemon cut into pieces, rind and all

1 teaspoon
fresh minced ginger root

5-6 fresh Thai basil leaves

1 teaspoon brown cane sugar

30
milliliters Bacardi light rum

4 ounces
chilled sugar cane juice

Ice as required

Combine the fennel, lemon, ginger,Thai basil leaves and sugar. Muddle well.
Add the rum, sugar cane juice and ice into a cocktail shaker along with the muddled mix and shake well.
Strain into a chilled glass &amp; garnish with a sprig of thai basil.

******************************************************

Lehiyam spiced Popcorn

1: Air pop yellow corn kernels to get about 3 cups. spread into a single layer on a baking sheet

2: Spice blend: 1 table spoon Coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon cumin
seeds, 4-5 black peppercorns & 3-4 'Long Pepper' Known in Hindi as
Pippli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_pepper). Grind all these together to make a fine powder.
3.
grind up fresh ginger to get about 1/4 cup of pulp. Strain the pulp to
obtain the extract. Allow the extract to stand for 10 minutes to allow
the white starch residue to settle. DEcant the liquid & discard the
white part.
4. melt 1/3 cup of either cane jaggery or muscovado
sugar using as little water as possible. Add the ginger extract and
about 1 to 1.5 teaspoon of the spice blend & cook into a thick
syrup (thick enought to coat the popcorn but not so much as to form
globules of candy over it).
5. Drizzle the spiced sugar syrup over the popcorn & toss till the syrup is evenly distributed.
6. Scarf down while watching a 'masala' bollywood flick of your choice!

Kara says: The flavors were intriguing and complex, and the Panaka Punch had a beautiful aroma too.

This
drink would have never occurred to me, had it
not been for a recipe for panaka I came across in Madhur Jaffrey's
James Beard award winning book 'World Vegetarian' (p. 644) . Not sure
why she listed this beverage as 'extinct', but it sure got me re-
inspired !!The Hindu festival 'Ram navami' is celebrated in the month of April
all over India. One of the traditional festive offerings in South Indian
temples & households for this event is 'panakam', a refreshing
punch like drink made with ginger, gud (jaggery, an unrefined sugar) and
lime & flavored with cardamom. A time honored tradition kept alive
for the past 3000+ (yes, three thousand) years. I prefer adding Lime
flavored seltzer in place of water for a refreshing late summer afternoon
drink, but to REALLY kick it up a notch, grab the Lemon flavored Absolut & the Ginger liqueur.